Reset
by BigBlkDog
Summary: The agents go to small town Nebraska to investigate what appears to be a body possession problem. Things, however, are never how they appear to be, and when Mulder is attacked and left for dead in an abandoned warehouse, the consequences could prove to be too much for Scully. How will our favorite duo get through this new crisis? Read and find out! Set during Season 5.
1. Chapter 1

Reset

**Disclaimer**: I do not own the X-Files. Chris Carter, 1013, and Fox, however, do and are just going to let me play with their characters for a little bit.

**A/N: So I am a more recent fan of the X-Files I will admit. I had seen a few of the episodes when the show happened to be on, but never really got into it until now (thanks Netflix). So with that being said this is my first X-Files fanfic, and I hope you all enjoy the ride with me. This is set in early season 5- Scully has just been cured of cancer, and Mulder is in his non-believer kind of funk. I was really intrigued by this concept when I watched it through, so I decided to have a little fun with it. I hope y'all enjoy! Let me know if you are interested in more! Also, I would like to note that I have no beta (unless you count my cat who sat on my keyboard for the most part while I typed this) so please forgive any small over sights. Otherwise, we will just blame the cat :-)**

**Part 1**

Chapter 1

This was not supposed to be happening this way. This was supposed to be a simple who done it type of mystery. It was supposed to be something to get their feet wet again. It was supposed to be something that got her out of DC, and would hopefully bring the spark back into his eyes.

Dana Scully held back tears as she watched her partner be wheeled from the ambulance into an awaiting bay in the town's local emergency room. Now she would be lucky if she even saw his eyes open again.

"Excuse me, Agent?"

Scully was broken out of her internal berating by one of the trauma nurses holding a clipboard.

"I need you to fill this paperwork out, our team is getting ready to take your partner up to prep for surgery. Detective Rales told me that you were a doctor, did you want to join in on the surgery team?" The young brunette nurse asked her.

Scully grabbed the offered clipboard, and shook her head.

"I need to make a phone call, and take a few moments. Maybe once they get started I will observe." She informed the girl quietly.

"Well, I will be at the desk over there, just bring back the paperwork as soon as you are done, and then I will take you up to the surgery waiting room."

Agent Scully nodded her thanks, and filled out the paperwork they needed as fast as she could. Then she would call Skinner, and let him know what has happened. Maybe after she would step in and see how Mulder's surgery was doing. Who was she kidding? She could barely hold the pen in her hand, there was no way that she would be able to go into that surgery room, and have her most professional face on. No, that wasn't going to happen.

She handed the information back to the ladies behind the emergency room desk, and the young woman, Danielle according to her name badge, lead her up a flight of stairs to the surgery waiting room.

"Just have a seat, and the doctor will come out when they are done to update you. If they aren't out by a couple of hours then a nurse will come and give you a brief update. And Agent," Danielle paused before leaving the tired agent for the day. "Don't worry, he is in the best hands." She told Scully before leaving to go back down stairs.

Scully gave a hateful snicker to herself as she tiredly flopped down into one of the uncomfortable waiting room chairs. She was supposed to be the best hands to deal with him, not these small town doctors. She sat there staring off into nothing before fishing her cell phone out of her pocket and mindlessly toyed with it to delay calling Skinner.

This was all her fault.

* * *

**48 hours earlier**-

Agent Scully snuck into her and Mulder's dingy basement office an hour earlier than usual. She was actually excited to get back to work- well more excited to escape her family. It wasn't that she didn't love them dearly; they were just a little suffocating recently. She couldn't blame them though. On her deathbed a week ago today, her family had all but said goodbye, and then her miracle happened. Deep inside she knew that Mulder had been through hell to get her that miracle, so was not about to let her second chance on life go to waste.

Her mother, and brother Bill had still been staying with her, but Bill had an early flight to catch this morning, and her mother was nice enough to offer to drive him there. She knew that her mom was still worried about her, but Scully showed her that she was well on the road to recovery, and eager to return to work. Maggie got the hint, and said that she would just drive home after dropping her eldest off at the airport.

After hanging her coat and purse up, Scully headed to the desk to dig through some paperwork trying to find a case for her and her partner to work on. It had to be the perfect case, something to get them out of DC for a couple of days, but nothing too serious. The last thing that Mulder needed was something to dive head first into, and besides she still wasn't quite up to snuff yet. Honestly, she just wanted something fun. And while their job consisted of government conspiracies, and chasing reports (some not entirely accurate ones) of aliens, she had to admit that occasionally there was a happy medium. Every once in a while there was one case that she had absolutely no idea how to scientifically explain, and in those rare times she had never seen Mulder quite so giddy. And that is the man she wanted to see.

What she did not want to see was the shell of a man that she saw last night.

XxX

Her mother had decided to cook a big dinner last night to celebrate Scully returning to work the next day, as well as Bill having to leave in the morning. When someone knocked on the door shortly before dinner had started, Scully gave a curious glance to her mom who was still in the kitchen finishing dinner, before going to open the door.

"Mulder!" Surprised to see him here with a bottle of wine, she let him into her apartment.

"Hey, Scully, sorry I'm a little late." He apologized and wrapped her in bear hug, something that he had been doing a lot over the last week. He looked down and saw her trying to shake the stunned expression from her face, and let out a low chuckle. "Your mom said it would be a nice surprise."

Scully turned and gave her mother a pointed look before turning back to her new houseguest.

"It is a nice surprise, Mulder. Other than a couple of brief visits it feels like it has been forever." She told him honestly glad to see him, and to be able to spend a little bit of time with her best friend. She took the bottle of wine from him and placed it on the dining room table before guiding him to the couches. "You know Bill is still here too." Scully informed him with a knowing smirk. She had noticed the tension between the two men not only in the hospital, but once she came home as well, whenever Mulder came to visit.

At the mention of Bill, Mulder seemed to scoot a little closer to her on the couch, but Scully couldn't decide if that was just her imagination or not.

"Oh Mulder," Maggie Scully greeted coming out from the kitchen. "I'm glad you were able to make it."

"I wouldn't miss one of your home cooked meals Mrs. Scully." Mulder told her honestly, getting up from her spot on the couch to give her a hug.

Scully got the chance to take a good look at him now. He was dressed casually in dark wash jeans, and a brown light sweatshirt with the sleeves rolled up passed his elbows. What startled her though was how baggy the shirt had looked on him, also when he turned to look at her smiling at something her mother had said she noticed that his smile did not quite reach his eyes, and saw the hollowness in those normally expressive hazel eyes. He even looked a little paler than usual. By all accounts Scully thought that he was the one that had cancer, not her.

"So where is my dear friend, Bill?" Mulder asked her sarcastically as he reclaimed his spot next to her on the couch.

"He is back in the guest bedroom on the phone with Tara. Mulder, is everything okay?" She asked him a little disturbed by her observations of him.

"Hey shouldn't I be the one asking you that?" He asked her, obviously trying to brush off her prodding.

"I'm serious, Mulder. You look-"

"Scully, I'm fine." He cut her off, and pulled her to him tucking her head under his chin for a moment before pulling back, and reached to hold her head in his hands. "Everything is going to be okay now that you are home." He told her quietly, and followed by placing a tender kiss to her forehead.

And that position was how Bill found them a couple of seconds later when he exited Scully's guest bedroom.

"Mr. Mulder," He said gruffly, interrupting the couple on the couch. "I wasn't aware you were coming to our _family_ dinner tonight." He said trying to appear casual, but obviously not happy with the newcomer.

Thankfully before Scully had a chance to come back with an angry retort, Maggie came out of the kitchen and placed the remaining pieces to dinner on the table.

"Mulder is family, Bill." She told her son; all while giving Mulder a look that he knew she really meant that. "Dinner is ready, and I won't have any arguing the rest of the evening. Understood?" She continued giving another pointed look at Bill.

Thankfully everyone was able to put apart his or her differences for the rest of the evening once Mrs. Scully had laid down the law. Everyone was just happy that they were able to enjoy a nice evening dinner to celebrate Scully's good health.

However, Scully kept stealing glances at Mulder all night. She just couldn't shake the feeling as if he was hiding something. Her mother had mentioned that over the last couple of weeks you wouldn't have found a more dedicated person, which of course led to her mother asking about their relationship. Maybe once they were back in their normal routine things would be better, but until then she would keep a close eye on him.

XxX

Scully shook herself out of her thoughts on her partners' behavior from last night. All they needed was something to get their minds off of recent events.

So when the cluttered desk did not prove to be fruitful, she turned to his emails, and one of the top few emails caught her attention. It was from a Detective Rales from a small town called Red Cloud, Nebraska. He was asking for some help regarding a few interesting events that have happened. People have been claiming to feel a presence take over their body, and force them to do things ranging from stealing, to driving until their car ran out of gas. Once Scully finished viewing over the case file she decided that the best thing about this was there were no murders. Perfect.

An hour later she had gotten Skinner to sign off on the case, had gotten their travel accommodations taken care of, and was able to stop to get coffee for Mulder and herself. All the while she had received many well wishes, and welcome backs from many of the office staff, as well as other agents. Yes, Scully was in a good mood this morning, and her smile only widened when she got back to the office and saw Mulder at the desk with his head buried in an old case file.

She placed his cup of coffee down in front of him, alerting him to her presence.

"Why good morning Agent Scully. It is lovely to see you back in the office." He told her cheerfully, before grabbing the styrofoam cup and taking a small sip from it to test the coffees warmth.

"Good morning yourself, Mulder." Scully told him unable to hide her smile.

Mulder picked up on her exceedingly good mood for so early, and decided to give her a bit of a hard time for coming in early on her first day back.

"So I don't suppose you know anything about who came in and ransacked my desk, and read my emails this morning." He asked her knowingly over the rim of his coffee cup.

"How do you feel about abductions of a different variety, out in the boonies?"

When Mulder leaned back in his chair his interest peaked, and a little surprised that she was so eager about a case of the paranormal. So he remained silent while he waited for his partner to continue.

"Well it's not often I get to tell you this, but pack your bags, Mulder. We're going to Nebraska." And finished by throwing their pair of airline tickets on the desk with a small flourish, and a smile.


	2. Chapter 2

Reset

**Disclaimer**: I do not own the X-Files. Chris Carter, 1013, and Fox, however, do, and are just going to let me play with their characters for a little bit.

**A/N:** So here is the next chapter, things will start to become clear soon I promise! Also, I would like to point out that when I wrote this I pictured Detective Rales as Detective Kevin Ryan from "Castle", and Seiko the journalist as Dichen Lachman from "Dollhouse". If you don't know who they are you should look them up. Thanks the reviews, and thank you for your favorites, and follows! I'm excited this story has gotten some traffic! Please keep your reviews coming!

**Part 1**

Chapter 2

Mulder kept his eyes on the road, and let his hands keep a steady beat on the steering wheel as they drove through the middle of nowhere. It had been a long day of traveling for the both of them, and as the sun was beginning to set on the horizon. Mulder's stomach loudly growled remind him once again that they did not get to eat lunch. He shot his partner a glare over the center console when he heard her snicker at his body's obvious distress, but she didn't break her gaze from the window. He continued his monotonous rhythm on the steering wheel, not really keeping in time with the country station, which was the only thing that they had picked up out here.

**Red Cloud: 15 miles**

Mulder let out a thankful breath. He didn't mind driving; in normal circumstances he usually enjoyed its calming presence it had for him. However, after 3 plane rides, the last one being on a dinky airplane to the dinky airport in a city that was still a little over an hour away from their destination, Fox Mulder was done for the day. They had called Detective Rales once they had landed in Grand Island, Nebraska to let him know that they were finally on the driving leg of the journey. He directed them to a diner in town that they could meet at and discuss the case over dinner.

"Mulder, we are almost there, you can stop your fidgeting." His partner pointed out, finally turning to face the road ahead of them instead of looking at the scenery pass by them.

"Sorry, Scully. I just feel like I've been cooped up all day, and I'm starving. You know me well enough that those two are a very bad combination." He joked with her.

She just shook her head, and gave a little smile to her partner to let him know that she was only kidding.

Mulder finally saw the exit for Red Cloud, and turned off the highway, and headed on a smaller two-lane road, and it wasn't long before they were driving through the small city.

Red Cloud was mainly a farming community, but it did have an antique downtown area, complete with brick roads, and picturesque storefronts. After following the directions, they pulled up their Ford Taurus in front of the town's novel diner.

A man stepped away from the building, he appeared to be in his mid thirties, light brown hair that was a little longer than Mulder's, and all combed over to the side.

"Agents?" The man asked as Mulder and Scully made their way to the sidewalk.

"Yes, you must be Detective Rales." Scully spoke first, and stuck her hand out to shake his. When he grabbed it she continued. "I'm Special Agent Dana Scully, and this is my partner Special Agent Fox Mulder."

Mulder shook the blue eyed, baby-faced detectives' hand as well giving him a nod.

"Lets go inside, and take a seat. Maybe get you guys something to eat." The Detective suggested, and opened the door to the diner for them.

Once the three sat down in a booth by the window, a young waitress, who couldn't have been more than sixteen or seventeen came to take their drink order, and came back shortly with their three coffee's. Mulder was still trying to decide what to eat, while Scully ordered one of her salads. But thankfully Detective Rales suggested that he tried the special, and Mulder couldn't say no.

"Lets get started Agents. I know that you are maybe more used to life threatening cases, but I've got a whole town that is becoming scared." Detective Rales started.

"Any cases where there are claims of body possessions have the capability to become life threatening." Mulder told him honestly.

Detective Rales looked skeptical for a second before continuing. "I got your information from a buddy of mine up in Omaha, he said that you guys dealt with 'special' circumstances such as these."

When both of the Agents nodded he continued.

"All of this started about a couple of weeks ago. We had one of the high school kids take his parents car, fill it up and just drove. He was supposed to show up at a friend's house, and finally they got worried and talked to his parents. By the end of the day he called, and was clear across the state, with no memory of how he got there. Once we got him home, he said that he was starting to remember a few things, but it was like something had just taken over his body, and he was watching, but couldn't do anything about it. Now while the boy, and his parents seemed pretty freaked out, down at the station we didn't really buy that, seeing as he and his buddies have been caught a few times with some substances that are known to do a little mind altering."

"Did you test for drugs?" Scully asked.

Detective Rales nodded at her. "Negative." He paused for a moment before continuing. "A couple of days later, my wife of all people, got caught trying to shop lift out of the grocery store. Once she was caught she was mortified. Gave the exact same description that the boy did. We took some more blood work on her, and it also came back negative for toxins, drugs, and alcohol. My wife is the last person that would ever do anything like that, and the town knows that, so people have become a little more alert, and cautious."

"Did your wife say that it was more like someone told her to do something, or did she say it really felt like someone had taken over her body?" Mulder asked curious. Deep down he started to get nervous that they would be dealing with another pusher type situation.

"After a couple of hours some of the fog around her brain began to clear, and she said it was more like someone had taken over her body. She just felt helpless, and couldn't do anything about it."

The waitress came and interrupted with their food, and after everyone had a couple of bites Detective Rales continued.

"That was last week. This week I had two more cases. One was another teenager, a girl this time. She started terrorizing her family, saying that she was a vampire, and spent the evening chasing them. After that my buddy up in Omaha gave me your information and said to call you, but I didn't until yesterday when our Sheriff came out in the middle of town square, stripped himself down to his birthday suit, and began acting like a chicken. It took two deputies to catch him, and he hasn't come out of his house since."

Once the Detective was finished Mulder and Scully took a moment to process this information before Mulder began talking.

"I believe whatever this entity is, it is showing you that it is powerful, it can force you to do things that you would never dream of doing. However, the fact that it hasn't done anything that threatens the lives of the people that it takes over could mean that there is some kind of bond with them. It could be someone in your town doing this."

"How do you figure that?"

"I have a theory that one of your towns people have discovered that they have a unique body walking ability, only they don't wish to do harm, they just want to have a little fun."

"Agent, let me tell you a little something about Red Cloud. I barely have a population of 1,000. We truly do have one of those towns where everybody knows everybody, everyone works out at their family farm, and we have kindergarten through twelfth grade all in one building. We have a sense of camaraderie here that most towns can't say that they have. And every one of the people here are terrified that they are going to be next to do something humiliating. And to make things even better I have an investigative reporter that showed up from Lincoln to get the story about the town, and she is convinced that we are drugging our water. And by the blood work we have taken of the victims that is clearly not the case!"

"Detective, we are not implying anything." Scully started, trying to calm down the obviously frustrated Detective. "Why don't you let us take the files to our motel and look them over tonight, and we will meet you at the station in the morning."

Detective Rales hung his head. "I apologize Agents. It has just been a stressful couple of weeks. Our police force is small, hell I'm the only Detective that the town has, my Sheriff is still in hiding from his embarrassing situation yesterday, and the rest of the force has been going out to investigate any little call where people have even forgotten where they left their keys. It has just been a long couple of weeks."

"We understand. Lets just try this again in the morning. Agent Mulder and myself will be fully caught up with the case by then."

"Thank you for coming out here. Least I can do is pick up the bill." He offered.

Shortly after the agents were back in the car, and one the road again to their motel.

"What are you thinking Mulder?" Scully asked him because she was very curious about what he thought on this case.

"I think we have some type of body walker. I think that this person has the ability to take over another persons mind, and body. I still think that because there have been no serious predicaments that it is one of the towns people. After the deal with the Sheriff I would go so far as to suggest that it was possibly a teenaged boy." Mulder finished pulling into a parking spot in front of their motel.

"Don't you think that they would have been able to remember who it was?"

"Not necessarily, Scully. This person could have the ability to become a noncoporeal entity, so they wouldn't see them anyway. Or if they do see their attacker, and the person has to use physical touch to initiate the process, I would think that it would follow the route of most other possessions in that people don't tend to remember what they did anyway. What about you, Scully?"

"I don't know, Mulder. It is kind of hard to explain that from a scientific standpoint. In a case like this I would maybe have to side with the reporter. Maybe not the towns water supply, but there could be something has been laced with some kind of psychotic drug."

"Maybe your right. Maybe the government has decided to pick this town for some type of testing. I mean they could have falsified the blood work results to cover up their tests."

"I wouldn't go that far." Scully told him.

It didn't take long for the agents to get checked in. Mulder fished some sunflower seeds out of his over night bed, and flopped onto the bed. He started scanning through the TV channels when he heard a knock on his door.

"It's open!" He yelled, already knowing who was on the other side.

Scully came in and sat down on the bed next to him, and placed one of the files that she had been looking at on his lap.

"I was reading through some of the witness statements, and found something interesting. It seems that not only were these people's memories affected while they were possessed, but some of their memory leading up to the event was missing as well."

Mulder read through the statements of the victims for a moment before coming to his own conclusion.

"I would say that since it happened to all of them, and not just one, or just the girls or the boys, it could be some type of side affect."

"That is what I was thinking." Scully agreed with her partner, and started to look over some more of the files that Detective Rales had given them.

She let a small smile come across her face at how nice and relaxed this seemed with the both of them unwinding after their long day.

"I think that we just need to start interviewing the victims in the morning again, and go from there." She suggested to Mulder who just nodded his agreement with her. "I'm going to go down to the vending machine to get something to drink. Would you like something?"

"Sure. Surprise me."

"Scully got down from the bed, and exited Mulder's room to head to the vending machine at the end of the building. She crossed her arms to protect her body from the cold wind that was blowing through. At least they had made it through a majority of winter, and the temperatures were starting to rise again, but the wind tonight was definitely not helping matters.

She inserted some coins into the machine, and retrieved a beverage for her, and then repeated the process for Mulder. As she turned around to head back to Mulder's room she saw a woman jogging toward her in the parking lot waving her down.

"Excuse me!" The young woman caught up with her at the buildings sidewalk, and brushed some of her caramel colored hair out of her face. "Are you one of the FBI agents that are in town?" The woman asked curiously.

"I'm sorry what is this about?"

"Oh sorry, where are my manners? My name is Seiko Peterfield. I am a journalist for The Lincoln Journal Star, and I am doing a story about the events going on here in Red Cloud. Would you like to make a statement?"

Scully looked the young woman over. She was very petite, dressed in dark skinny jeans, black heels, and a red flowy shirt with a black blazer over it. There was something about her exotic appearance that put Scully on edge It was almost as if something in the woman's eyes that seemed to bore into her very soul.

"I'm afraid, Ms. Peterfield that any inquiries you have to the investigation will have to be directed through the Red Cloud Sherriff's office." Scully told the woman politely before turning to head back to Mulder's room.

The reporter grabbed a hold of Scully's arm, and when Scully turned back to yank it from her grasp she became immobile when she locked eyes with the other woman.

"Perfect." Seiko mumbled before letting go of Scullys arm, and immediately placing both of her hands flat on either side of the Agent's head, coming almost nose to nose with her. The connection lasted less than a minute before Seiko let go and gave Scully a nod before watching her walk back to her motel room.


End file.
